"A major
story of Muslims in America over the past 10 years is Muslims saying 'we are
going to be part of the American project,'" an advocate of interfaith
cooperation told a national gathering of religion reporters at Duke's Bryan
Center Thursday afternoon.

"Interfaith
cooperation is going to go from a niche to a norm," predicted Eboo Patel,
the founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based
organization. "I think this country is about religion being a bridge for
cooperation. ... It's not about freedom for Muslims; it's about freedom for
everybody."

Patel gave the
lunchtime talk at a one-day program on "Muslims in America." Duke's Islamic Studies Center organized the workshop to kick off the annual
conference of the Religion Newswriters Association, which is meeting in Durham
through Saturday.

Earlier in the
program, Duke scholars David Schanzer, Abdullah Antepli and Jen'nan Read joined
Charles Kurzman of UNC-Chapel Hill in a discussion about the extent of
radicalization among American Muslims. In the afternoon, three Duke undergraduates
-- Nadir Ljaz, Meredith Rahman and Noha Sherif -- participated in a panel about
the experience of Muslim-American youth growing up in post 9/11 America.